On Monday, Abdul El-Sayed’s last day of campaigning to be the Democratic nominee for the Michigan Senate seat being vacated by Gary Peters, one event stood out. It was a pool party that took place in Detroit where El-Sayed chatted amiably with the progressive influencer Hasan Piker as other “content creators” took selfies and lounged on floaties.
El-Sayed ribbed Piker for his recent trend of wearing suits in contrast to the candidate’s usual tight-fitting black T-shirt. Piker expressed wonder at all the social media clips he had seen of “white dude bros that are so stoked to vote for you.” And then the two discussed the media’s “full-on freakout” over Piker’s role campaigning for El-Sayed during the final stretch of his primary battle with Rep. Haley Stevens.
It was a squeaker. Nonetheless, El-Sayed’s narrow victory is the clearest sign yet that his party’s old establishment is under siege. This populist turn began a decade ago when Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, surprised voters in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary and nearly defeated Hillary Clinton, the heavy favorite. Now the sons and daughters of Sanders are picking off incumbents from Denver to Philadelphia. If El-Sayed can win the general election in November he will likely emerge as a kingmaker, or maybe even a presidential candidate for 2028.
In the middle of this upheaval is Piker. Only a few years ago campaigning with someone like him, even for a progressive Democrat beloved by socialists, would be calamitous in a swing state like Michigan. This is not because Piker supports socialized medicine or is critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, which are mainstream Democratic positions these days. Rather, Piker represents a strain of American politics that demonizes the republic. That message has roused voters in deep-blue urban districts, but Piker’s brand of anti-patriotism was assumed to alienate normie voters.
